Abstract
BackgroundFoodborne illness caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus (V. parahaemolyticus) is generally associated with the consumption of seafood. Fish and other seafood can be contaminated with V. parahaemolyticus, natural inhabitants of the marine, estuarine, and freshwater environment. In this study, the antibacterial activities of benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) against V. parahaemolyticus were investigated by both transcriptomic analysis and morphological verification.ResultsTreatment with 1/8 minimum inhibitory concentration (1/8 MIC) BITC resulted in 234 upregulated genes and 273 downregulated genes. The results validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) revealed that the relative expression levels of the six genes VP0820, VP0548, VP2233, VPA2362, fliA and fliG were only 31.0%, 31.1%, 55.8%, 57.0%, 75.3%, and 79.9% of the control group, respectively. Among them, genes VP2233, fliA and fliG are related to flagella and VP2362 can regulate a protein relevant to biofilm formation. Morphologically, we verified that the swimming diffusion diameter of V. parahaemolyticus was significantly reduced by 14.9% by bacterial swimming ability, and biofilm formation was significantly inhibited by treatment with 1/8 MIC BITC by crystal violet quantification assay.ConclusionsThese results indicated that 1/8 MIC BITC had antibacterial effect on V. parahaemolyticus by inhibiting virulence gene expression related to flagella and biofilm.
Highlights
Foodborne illness caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus (V. parahaemolyticus) is generally associated with the consumption of seafood
According to the objective of present study, we focused on the antibacterial mechanism of benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) by screening differentially expressed genes related to virulence, as shown in Table 2 (VP0820, VP0548, VP2233, VPA2362, fliA and fliG), in which VP0820, VP0548 can regulate ToxR, thereby affecting the virulence of V. parahaemolyticus; VP2233, fliA and fliG genes are related to flagella, thereby affecting motility, and VP2362-encoded outer membrane protein that is related to the biofilm formation
We found that the formation of V. parahaemolyticus of biofilm was inhibited by BITC treatment, which was consistent with the gene expression results
Summary
Foodborne illness caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus (V. parahaemolyticus) is generally associated with the consumption of seafood. Fish and other seafood can be contaminated with V. parahaemolyticus, natural inhabitants of the marine, estuarine, and freshwater environment. The antibacterial activities of benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) against V. parahaemolyticus were investigated by both transcriptomic analysis and morphological verification. ITCs have shown various beneficial effects, including antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, neuroprotective, chemical prevention and anti-parasitic properties. Benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) is a type of ITC strong antibacterial capacity. Studies have found that BITC indicates antifungal activity and can effectively inhibit various molds [3] and bacteria, such as Campylobacter jejuni [4], Salmonella typhimurium [5], Staphylococcus aureus [6]. Studies have indicated the antibacterial mechanism of BITC. Knowledge about the antibacterial effects of BITC on V. parahaemolyticus is limited
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